Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
9AM - 5PM	11AM - 7PM	11AM - 7PM	11AM - 7PM	9AM - 5PM	9AM - 5PM	1PM - 5PM

Burton Barr Central Library is located on Central Avenue just south of McDowell Road. Please see the Valley Metro website for public transportation routes serving the library. Total Items in Collection: 705,700
Total # of Public PCs with Internet: 151

Adjacent to the west entrance of the library, Open Book Café is a 2,000-square-foot coffee shop with indoor and patio seating, WiFi access and spaces for studying and relaxing.  The menu features coffee and espresso, bagels and pastries, sandwiches, salads and wraps.  Daily specials are offered.  The café is closed on Sunday.

@Central Gallery is located off the atrium adjacent to the Pulliam Auditorium.  Exhibits rotate every two months and feature the work of Arizona artists in solo and group shows.  @Central Gallery is open during all library hours and is free to the public.

The library's first floor features New Book and Best Picks areas; audio-visual, international languages and fiction collections; a 10,000-square-foot Children's Place with story room; an auditorium; and, the nationally-acclaimed Accessibility Center with adapted computer equipment, resources and Large Print materials. The library also offers a fully integrated Spanish collection for adults and children, including fiction and nonfiction books, paperbacks, a reference collection, DVDs and audio cassettes, with ESL (English as a Second language) materials housed in a quiet corner of the library.

General and Business Reference, Government Documents, Magazines & Newspapers, Vehicle & Appliance Repair, Mitchell-on-Demand (car repair manuals), the Career Center and Maps are located on the second floor.

Also on the second floor, College Depot provides full-service college planning through outreach, guidance, resources and referrals.  The center offers workshops and one-on-one assistance on financial aid, college applications, ACT and SAT test preparation, career and major exploration, personal statements, college readiness and scholarships.

The Rare Book Room and the Arizona Room, with their specialized collections, are situated on the fourth floor. Teen Central, a 5,000-square-foot space designed "by and for" teens, is also located on the fourth floor.

The Great Reading Room fills the fifth floor, which houses the circulating nonfiction collection.

Building Highlights
Inspired by Monument Valley, the building's shape resembles a curving copper mesa split by a stainless steel canyon. Focusing on light and illusion, the design features shade sails on north windows fashioned by sail makers in Maine, an entrance tunnel with one back-lit wall and another of blue Venetian plaster with splashes of brightly colored Venetian plaster throughout the building.

The Crystal Canyon, a five-story atrium, has nine skylights at the top to track the sun. The glass-enclosed elevators and grand staircase are surrounded by a black bottom pool which mirrors their images and that of the Crystal Canyon.

A 32-foot high "Floating Ceiling" is suspended by cables over the Great Reading Room of 43,000 square feet on the fifth floor. Six-inch-wide skylights run the entire 300 foot length of the east and west walls. Round skylights covered by lenses create an illusion of flames at noon on the summer solstice, June 21st.

District 7 bruderDWL architects.

Architectural Design Leads
Will Bruder with Wendell Burnette